Units, terms, definitions

Procedure

This may be an opportunistic find or a targeted population of a specific species.

Plants need to be at or very close to the point of natural seed dispersal to ensure seed maturity and maximised longevity in storage.

To assess seed maturity, consider:

-Seed colour change

-Seed hardness

-Fruit development, colour, texture, odour (e.g., ripe fleshy fruits)

-Detachment of seed within the fruit (e.g., rattling)

-Detachment of the dispersal unit from the mother plant

Allocate someone to fill out the FIELD DATA SHEET (example below)

For assessing a potential seed collection.

This checklist is completed regardless of whether or not a collection is made.

Attempt to identify family, genus and species - Field name

Use expertise, photos, herbarium specimens, publications.

If species ID is not certain but collecting seed is deemed worthy, take special care to collect seed from exactly the same species.

A herbarium can determine whether or not the Field name is correct using the herbarium specimen (see below).

Assess population size

Allow 2 or 3 people to independently estimate the number of individual plants within the visible population and agree on a rough total.

At least 20 individual plants will constitute a population.

Keep collections made from separate ‘clumps’ of the same species separate.

In the case of sparse / dispersed populations of < 20 individuals, seeds from individual plants should be kept separate. This allows max. genetic variation to be maintained in future multiplication steps by ensuring the next generation are harvested from every parent plant originally sampled in situ.

Assess safety and practicality of making collection

Can all plants be sampled from safely?

Is there enough time left in the day?

Consider weather conditions.

Are there enough people?

Assess seed quality

Carry out a cut test in order to assess the proportion of empty, damaged, infested and immature seeds.

-Section a total of at least 10 seeds from a range of several well-spaced individuals across the population.